In the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life few organs of the body are more affected than the stomach. The change influences many characters of the organ's morphology, and the position, the mass, the finer structure, and particularly the capacity are rapidly modified and adjusted to the new conditions and functions of postnatal life.

The changes in gastric capacity in this period of transition have not been studied very intensively. As early as 1856 Guillot1 published some data regarding physiologic gastric capacity in the first few days of extrauterine life and this was followed somewhat later by a more extensive study by Bouchaud.2 Since that time further information on the subject has been published by Hillebrand,3 Kruger,4 Ssnitkin,5 Cammerer,6 Tuley,7 Jaschke,8 Landois9 and others. The figures presented in most of these studies are not extensive, and are usually incidental to more